any devs out there? I have an idea...

[dbaker]

Being rather brave posting this...

I've just finished an introductory programming course (I'm studying for a bachelor of IT) in which I learnt the very basics of programming in Python. I loved it, I did well, but my knowledge of programming is still very limited. Since playing around with Linux, I've learnt to use the command line and I love the control it gives you, but I've only memorised a few common commands and most of the time I have to google how to do things.

For ages now I've been dreaming up applications (open source and free of course) I want to write once I finish my degree/have enough knowledge. Some of my ideas are ridiculously ambitious, but recently I had one which I think might be possible, and is also...KUBUNTU RELATED!
It suddenly occurred to me there might be some programming people on here who could give me feedback on my idea, so here goes.

On mac OS, there's this great little tool called spotlight. It's a search widget that you access from the top menu bar on the desktop...not sure what you call that, but in Kubuntu it's the panel you can put widgets in with the task manager and everything. As far as I know, Linux doesn't seem to have a search tool like that. All the search tools I've tried have annoying limitations, like they dont search hidden files. And I don't know of a search tool that just sits neatly in the top panel like spotlight does.
Because of these limitations, whenever I need to find a file I've taken to using the 'locate' command in Terminal. I love that it lists ALL the files containing the search term, not just the visible ones/ones you're 'meant' to see. But it's kind of annoying that you then have to type in/copy-paste the filepath you want to go to in order to open it or open the containing folder. So I had this idea..

You know those plasma widget thingies? I love them. I want to make one that runs a search using the 'locate' command from terminal, and lists all the files matching the search term you entered. But then, you can click on a file and ask to open it, open it with a particular app, or open the containing folder. I suppose you could say it's a simple GUI for the terminal, if that makes sense.

I can sort of theorise about how this might be done, but the truth is I have NO IDEA how you write a program that is executable, or has a GUI, or is a plasma widget. I know people have written excellent, functional programs for Linux in Python. I've used them. I know about variables and conditional statements and those kind of fundamental concepts, but actually making an application? No idea.

So what I want to ask you guys is:
a) is there already a widget like this?
b) if not, is my idea plausible (could it actually be implemented)?
c) if so, can you explain briefly how making a plasma widget (or writing any sort of executable program) actually works?

[whatthefunk]

Alt+F2 brings up the run command dialog which does pretty much what you described.

[richb]

Dolphin also does searches by filename or content.

[Rog132]

Stream of consciousness meets Google

Spotlight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_(software)

KDE-Look - Fast search (like Mac OS X spotlight) : http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/?content=87140

KDE Userbase - KRunner: http://userbase.kde.org/Plasma/Krunner

KDE Techbase - Python runners: http://techbase.kde.org/Development/...a/PythonRunner

KDE Techbase - Creating plasmoids with scripts: http://techbase.kde.org/Paths/Develo...s_with_scripts

Kubuntu forums & Nepomuk & Find: http://www.google.fi/#bav=on.2,or.r_...uforums.net%2F

KIO-Locate: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show...content=120965



or through the KRunner "You can use kio-locate in all KDE applications, that accept URLs."



or through the plasma-widget-runcommand:

$ apt-cache show plasma-widget-runcommand
Package: plasma-widget-runcommand
Priority: optional
Section: universe/kde
...
Description: plasma widget for running commands
A simple Plasma to run console commands without using terminal or KRunner.
Homepage: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php...?content=91495

[richb]

Or Find in Dolphin with many options.

[claydoh]

And the cool thing about all these is that you can look at the code to see how the programmers did things, and you can use that info to modify one to your liking or to give you ideas on how to create your own

[dbaker]

Thanks everyone. The reason I want to create my own is because all the existing search tools I've tried I've found wanting. Perhaps I need to persevere with Dolphin more. My experience with Nepomuk was terrible - it didn't index hidden files by default, and when I asked it to it looked like it was going to take 10 years to index them all because there are so many. Not worth it.
Simply running commands is exactly NOT what I want to do. I want a GUI that doesn't involve having to copy/paste the file path you want in order to open a file once you've found it. The KIO-locate thing actually looks perfect, I'll have to try it.

Thanks for those great tutorials! Exactly what I need. I can't wait to play around! noob question: technically the language I learnt in my uni course was Jython (python implemented in java). I always assumed it was very much the same as Python syntax-wise. However, the syntax in those tutorials looks completely foreign to me, yet apparently it's python. What am I missing?


now for some ranting...

I always feel guilty about asking questions on any tech site because I know people will be thinking 'another idiot who doesn't know how to use google'. I google things ALL THE TIME. However, there are a couple of failings I've noticed with google.
One is that very often, especially if what you're searching for is slightly obscure, the results that come up on the first couple of pages are hopelessly out of date - often 5 years old. This doesn't always matter but with the speed that technology changes, it can be disastrous.
Another failing is search terms. I often have no idea exactly what terms I should use to find what I'm looking for. I'll try everything I can think of and the results are still utterly irrelevant. Using quotes to search for an exact phrase often returns no results at all.

It makes me furious when people talk about Google like it's flawless. Google is an amazing tool and I don't know what we'd do without it, but it's not perfect. There are obviously people with more experience using it than me, who CAN actually find what they're looking for. Perhaps it's got more to do with knowing particular sites relevant to the topic you're searching for, and I might not have discovered many of those sites yet.

[SteveRiley]

=I always feel guilty about asking questions on any tech site because I know people will be thinking 'another idiot who doesn't know how to use google'. I google things ALL THE TIME. However, there are a couple of failings I've noticed with google.

Probably the best way to assuage feelings of guilt would be to start a post with "I've Google for this but am still having trouble. I need to..." That way we can offer not only suggestions on how to solve your problem but also perhaps some potential suggestions for teasing better answers out of your search attempts.

[dbaker]

I guess I assume that a sensible person won't ask a question if they haven't already tried (and failed) to find the answer, and therefore if they appear to be a sensible person, readers will ASSUME they've already done this. of course, I might not appear to be a sensible person.

I think there's a difference between the kinds of questions that one can assume are 'googleable'. On stack exchange sites, for example, I've seen some really obviously idiotic questions - the kind of common questions that there are hundreds of answers to on google already. On the other hand, if you have a question that's a bit more specific, and hard to summarise in a few search terms, I don't personally think that anyone should be ostracised for straight out asking on a forum rather than trying (and probably failing) to google it. Here's why.

When I google something and DO find an answer, it's most often on a forum where someone has asked the same question I have. Often there are a lot of replies, which give different viewpoints, opinions, links to resources, suggestions, or experiences. If I'm lucky, there will be multiple results on google like this, and as long as the replies are intelligient you end up with a wealth of information. It's wonderful.
But what would have happened if nobody ever asked those questions? They might be questions about very basic things - the sort of questions that we might describe as idiotic. But the only reason it's idiotic to ask them is because of the wealth of information that already exists from people asking them...see what I'm getting at?

Because the internet is a very big place, those kind of common questions have already been answered hundreds of times, so it's easy to find them on google. But what if you have a more specific question? Perhaps the answer might involve corroborating bits and pieces of information that can be found (not without some difficulty) on google. And perhaps one other person, on the other side of the planet, wants to know the answer to that same question. It's so much easier for them if you've asked the question on a forum, been given an answer or links to those bits and pieces you need to know, ALL IN ONE PLACE.

By the way, I know I tend to write a lot. So if you've actually bothered to read all of this, THANK YOU.

[dmeyer]

Look at Nepoogle!

Also, soon an advanced query builder will come to KDE which should make using Nepomuk to it's fullest extent a lot easier!

[dbaker]

UPDATE: tried downloading KIO-locate. It told me there were unsatisifed dependencies and couldn't install. I googled 'kio-locate dependencies' and while it appears someone else had trouble with dependencies, I can't find out what they are. It appears kio-locate isn't maintained anymore and a lot of the info for it is several years old.

[whatthefunk]

I think Krunner, accessed with ALT + F2, is exactly what your looking for. Have you tried it? What do you want it to do that it doesnt?

[Rog132]

About kio-locate

UPDATE: tried downloading KIO-locate...

hmm - from where ?


The kio-locate is not in the currently supported repositories: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ll&section=all

There is a request: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...te/+bug/667308

The source is available: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php...content=120965

If you don't want to build yourself then you could check if someone else is building/sharing the binaries. There are several packaging services. For the Ubuntu there is the PPA: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas


PPA

At the moment it is telling: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas?n...ter=kio-locate

With the Google: https://www.google.fi/#q=kio-locate+...unchpad.net%2F
--> https://launchpad.net/~samrog131/+ar...+build/4948249
-----> https://launchpad.net/~samrog131/+archive/build-queue
----------> https://launchpad.net/~samrog131/+archive/ppa
---------------> https://launchpad.net/~samrog131/+ar...series_filter=

With Kubuntu 13.10 B1 / KDE 4.11.1

$ apt-cache show kio-locate
Package: kio-locate
Priority: extra
Section: kde
Installed-Size: 315
...
Version: 0.5.3~saucy~ppa1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libkdecore5 (>= 4:4.4.0), libkdeui5 (>= 4:4.3.4), libkio5 (>= 4:4.3.4), libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1), libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.5.3), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1)
Filename: pool/main/k/kio-locate/kio-locate_0.5.3~saucy~ppa1_amd64.deb
...
Description: kio-slave for the locate command
Adds support for the "locate:" and "locater:" protocols to Konqueror and other KDE applications.
.
This enables you to perform locate searches as you would in a terminal.
The result are displayed just like if a directory is browsed.
.
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show...content=120965

OBS

The openSUSE Build Service: https://build.opensuse.org/

The OBS has an option to package also to the Debian, Ubuntu et.al.

From the OBS: https://build.opensuse.org/search?ut...ttrib_type_id=

If there is no native Debian package then there is an option to convert packages with the Alien:

:~$ apt-cache show alien
Package: alien
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 209
...
Description: convert and install rpm and other packages
Alien allows you to convert LSB, Red Hat, Stampede and Slackware Packages
into Debian packages, which can be installed with dpkg.
.
It can also generate packages of any of the other formats.
.
This is a tool only suitable for binary packages.
Homepage: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/alien/

Ubuntu community Alien doc: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RPM/AlienHowto

[dbaker]

I downloaded the .deb from the 2nd link on this page: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=17201

Thanks for that incredibly comprehensive post! I'll read it properly later once I'm actually in my VM.

[whatthefunk]

I downloaded the .deb from the 2nd link on this page: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=17201

Thanks for that incredibly comprehensive post! I'll read it properly later once I'm actually in my VM.

Thats the problem. That version hasnt been changed for 7 years and was built for KDE 3.2. You need something for KDE 4.